A Life to Live
by roxanne96
Summary: There were so many things to live for. Yet none seemed to burn in his heart a passion , to not only live, but to fight for everything he believed in. He would find the answer then to all his fears. The path to eternity.
1. Chapter 1

How many times had he tried explaining himself to his parents? Already more times than he could remember. With a sigh of frustration he gazed out of his window. The same dull scenery greeted his eyes. Never ending grey hills, trees relinquishing their beautiful manes to the winters determined advances. It had always been so, and nothing would ever change this repeated cycle. Maybe he should be glad to leave this place, it was not important to him…but that was a lie. More than any of the other places this was the only one he accepted into his innermost heart. Not many things ever caught his attention anymore, and this place, it had chained its cold roots onto his troubled soul. Here he was free, free to live. He never thought of his life as dictated by one other than himself, prided himself even, on being his own master. It was another thing, he was beginning to realise, he would miss about this place. The pure and sacred honesty of it, and how if he were allowed he would never leave this most peaceful of sanctuary's. His home.

xxx

The top bunk of the sleeper train was excruciating, and he cursed the travel agent for this death trap. After more tossing and turning, totally involuntary on his part, he got up. Some ancestor somewhere was obviously offended by his existence and chose to make his journey a living hell. He rolled on his jumper and wore his shoes over thick orange socks. Then with a quick dive he leapt off the flimsy, rattling sleeper and made his way to the open carriage. Surprisingly there were many occupants up at such a late hour, the ancient wall clock said it was 1'o clock. Walking fast to keep himself warm he turned at the last passageway to come to a railing that overlooked the swiftly disappearing landscape.

He had been standing there for an hour when he realised that the room was completely empty except for one other person. Glad that whomever it was had left him alone to his thoughts he turned back to the glass window. It had been glaringly certain that his mother would out talk all his carefully formulated pros for his stay at home, and his dad , well he just ignored the "tantrums" of his problem son like he always did. He had never felt as ashamed as he had then for bursting into tears in front of them , for the loss he was facing was overwhelming him. As the pain ebbed away however, he made himself a vow , never again would he shed a tear on people like them, who hardly ever heard him let alone understood him. He would do everything for his life so that when he finally emerged he would have achieved that final victory and no one would be able to look down on him or belittle his worth.

It was then that he realised that his silent companion was watching the world pass by. With an expression so similar to his it made his heart leap in joy at finding such a rare being, a kindred soul. He knew how they felt and so he offered them the greatest gift he could think of. The silence to think and dream, and finally to come to terms with ones inner turmoil. If it was friendship he wanted from this fellow traveller it could wait for them to be ready for the other. He would wait.

The stranger got up suddenly, and made their way to the path that led to the sleeper compartments. As the moon sunk into the sky, driven away by the warm rays of the sun , it seemed as though the battle had been won. The inner foe vanquished. The companion was exiting the ward , their back followed by his longing gaze . It turned to mild surprise when he saw the long brown locks that escaped the hoodie the person was covered by. The friend of his soul was a girl? This whole encounter had been completely one sided and he told himself it was not to be. A girl would never give him a truthful and honest friendship, they never did to him. Faced by this defeat he returned to his bunk, for another fitful round of wakefulness.


	2. Chapter 2

How long had it been since she had actually slept during the night? It seemed like it had been forever since nightmares had not stalked her closed eyes. Was that so much to ask ? One night of sleep to give her respite from everything she faced otherwise? Then again rest was for people who deserved it, who were worth it. She sighed. If they heard her now, they would know that she was back to square one. The only reason they had agreed to let her go on this journey herself was because everything seemed to be getting better again. That should teach her for letting them get her hopes up. She could never change who, no what she truly was. Not that pessimistic thoughts were unknown to the rest of mankind. It was just that when such thoughts came to her she usually did something to propagate them into a disaster of sorts. Had she always been so strained and conflicted in her ways? She couldn't remember. The reflection she saw in the glass paving the windows was a pale tormented face. At one as though it were a reflex action to protect those around her from her dark inner turmoil, she hastily rearranged her features into a composed mask. The effort almost knocked the breath out of her chest, which was throbbing painfully. Her breathing slowed as she calmed down. She shut out her own pain and with a resigned air got up from her seat at the window. She saw a glimpse of black hair out of the corner of her eye but couldn't bring herself to care about the fact that someone might have witnessed her most private of moments, she headed to her room. For now she just felt so tired, so tired.

XXX

The train ride was uneventful and she spent the morning in a state of semi consciousness. When the train finally stopped at her station she was still dazed and watching a spot of grime on the window flicker its shadow onto the opposite wall. The thunder of feet boarding and leaving the train snapped her out of her trance like state and she hurried to get her luggage of the carrier and out the door. Descending onto the platform she walked towards the railway exit. With a careful blank expression plastered on her face she strode forward , back hunched as though bracing herself for some terrible attack she seemed to expect. The man next to her flinched away from her sudden jerky movements and gave her a strange look before he walked away from her muttering.

She placed her hand on her stomach in a calming gesture and looked around the sea of taxis for somet..a gasp escaped her lips as she felt a muscled pair of arms inch themselves around her waist. She had always been one to consider self defence for women a necessary precaution and retaliated to the assault with swift precision. She swung her head backward, to hurt and surprise her captor. The person however seemed ready for this turn of events and stepped back instantly releasing her body from their hold. She swung around with her fists clenched and was surprised and exasperated when she saw the face grinning at her."Hello you", he said cheerfully. She rolled her eyes and walked towards his car which she spotted across the road. The man grumbled about pmsing women in a joking tone as he was left to lug her bags along as he followed her small figure in the same direction. Even with the cold response he had received he seemed unable to keep that bright smile off of his face.

She was sitting in the car , grateful for the heater that had been left on and that was warming her cold skin. When the car door opened to let in the driver of said car she barely looked up from her hunched up position. The man was unperturbed and started the engine of the car with a swift turn of his wrist. He backed out of the parking space and drove out of the parking lot onto the highway. He turned the radio on and fidgeted with the dial till he came to the station of his choice and began humming along to an old song by The Police. The girl made no response to his energetic behaviour except to slowly nod her head to the lyrics of Roxanne. Out of the corner of his eye the man watched her slow head bobbing and his grin grew wider, as he drove them home.


End file.
